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Dear Alice teachers,
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<div class="">I am trying to improve my "CS 0.5” pre-CS 1 Alice course in terms of pass rate and in terms of preparation for Java. We have this optional course called Virtual Worlds that many students take in spring of their first year in college, in the hopes
that it will prepare them somewhat for Java the following fall.</div>
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<div class="">Last year I had something of an unacceptable pass rate in Virtual Worlds, and I am looking to improve the course. One thing that interests me is the “many small programs” approach some are taking in early programming courses (for example, <a href="https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/140/papers/27535/view" class="">https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/140/papers/27535/view</a>).</div>
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<div class="">The many small programs approach relies on auto grading of Java or other code to give students a lot of rapid feedback. This is a problem with Alice, because it can’t be auto graded (to my knowledge), and it is slow for me to open and check everyone’s
projects.</div>
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<div class="">Does anyone have any ideas that could work for Alice? The best idea I have so far is to write lots of small quizzes with multiple-choice answers. The quiz questions would either be “What does this code do?” or “Which line of code is correct to
make this behavior?” and such things. Does anyone have lots of quiz questions like this? Or any other ideas?</div>
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<div class="">James<br class="">
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—<br class="">
James Vanderhyde<br class="">
Associate Professor and Department Chair</div>
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Computer Science<br class="">
Saint Xavier University<br class="">
3700 W. 103rd St.<br class="">
Chicago, IL 60655<br class="">
773-298-3454</div>
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